Oregon court refused to recognize the teeth as dangerous weapon

Oregon Court refused to recognize the teeth as “dangerous weapon” and commuted convicted of first-degree assault and second-degree assault, 30-year old Scott Russell Kuperusu, who was sentenced to 90 months in prison. For biting off a chunk of his neighbor’s ear.

The case grew out of a 2008 fight. Both men involved in the incident were drunk, as a result, Scott Russell Kuperus was charged with assault first degree and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.

The phrase “attack of the first degree” implies the use of dangerous weapons. Defined by state law as any weapon that, “under the circumstances in which it is used, is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury.” Scott Russell Kuperus’s attorney Mark Obert successfully argued, “If teeth are not a weapon, then the first-degree assault charge does not apply.” However, because the victim sustained a “serious and protracted disfigurement,” the court upheld the second-degree-assault conviction. Kuperus will receive a new sentence, 70 months in prison.